Nitty-Gritty

The Flyers got away with one last night.

I don't know how he did it, but Antero Nittymaki was almost unstoppable between the pipes. 54 saves. 54! When the Leafs were assaulting Nitty with a barrage of shots from every which direction, I figured we had no chance to hang on to the third period lead. And, of course, the 2-0 advantage evaporated into a 2-2 tie thanks to Mats Sundin with under 10 minutes to play.

At that point I'm thinking, well we're probably going to lose it in overtime now. But Nitty was too solid. The Leafs threw everything they could at him and he drove everything away. Mike Richards came through with about 3 minutes left to lift the Flyers to a 3-2 lead, and they hung on. After an embarassing loss to the Devils the day before, Philly needed a good rebound game. It wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it got the job done. Major kudos to Nittymaki for stepping up in the clutch.

- Great to see Steve Downie score his first NHL goal.
- Joffrey Lupul was hurt in the first period in a nasty collision with Derian Hatcher. Hopefully he'll be OK.
- Good job by the Richards, Knuble, Briere line to take advantage of that last power play. That's what good teams do.

20-15-4, 44 points, T-4 in Atlantic, 5 points behind NJ. Two days off before hitting the road once again to face the Atlanta Thrashers (20-21-1, 41 points).